Arum: Loma Wants Mikey After Pedraza

While the relationship between he and Robert Garcia’s brother may not be the best, Bob Arum spoke with the trainer of Mikey Garcia regarding a fight with Vasyl Lomachenko.

Arum wants to kickstart negotiations between the two sides for a 2019 pay-per-view showdown, after Lomachenko faces Jose Pedraza in a lightweight unification fight on December 8th.

Arum and Garcia would end up in a financial dispute in 2016, following 34 fights under the Top Rank banner and force the popular boxer out of the ring for over two years.

“The only conversation I had was with Robert,” Arum said. “I said, ‘Tell your brother to shut the f**k up. Lomachenko is fighting Pedraza in December. And if he wins, I promise you I’ll sit down with Mikey right after that fight and try to make a fight with Loma.’ That’s the best I can do. I’m not gonna sit [down with him] now and make the fight, when [Lomachenko] has a fight coming up.”

“But I promise – I told Robert. He was there [Friday night in Fresno]. He’s a great trainer. He trains [Jose] Ramirez, so he was up in Fresno and we had time to talk. That’s all I can say. Loma wants that fight, but he has to beat Pedraza first. And then it’s a really interesting fight because each guy has two lightweight titles, and the winner has all four.”

Arum would not want the fight to be free, but on pay-per-view. “Not the greatest, not the biggest pay-per-view fight,” Arum said, “but it would certainly do enough business. … So that’s a good fight to look forward to next year. We really wanna do that fight, [all] bullsh*t aside.”

With Garcia holding the IBF and WBC lightweight titles, a unification fight has seemed to be a perfect fit for the California fighter, but Garcia is looking to move up two weight classes and face IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.

“All Robert keeps saying to me,” Arum said, “is, ‘My brother’s out of his mind. I’ll do anything possible that he doesn’t fight Spence.’ ”

“He’s saying that he wants the fight,” Arum said of Lomachenko and Garcia’s mutual interest.

“Now, when we sit down with him, as long as he’s willing to take a guarantee, with a percentage, OK. But if he starts asking crazy numbers, then who could afford to do it?”